Tuesday, January 14, 2003

 

Asides ...



  • Anyone else think the jazz tune in the recent Lincoln commercials is pretty damn snappy? I find myself humming it at times. Like now. Seriously, if it's a real recording or something like that, I must own it.

  • On a related point, often when I get a song stuck in my head, I must either (a) listen to it incessantly for a few hours until it's gone, or (b) purchase or download said song and repeat part (a). Examples -- I own "Best Of" CDs for both Mot the Hoople ("All the Young Dudes") and Kansas ("Dust in the Wind").

  • Speaking of "Dust in the Wind," one of my favorite moments from (sadly) one of my favorite movies is when, in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, our adventuring heroes walk up to Socrates, who is lecturing over a pile of sand. Bill picks up a handful and says, "like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives ..." while Ted does the same while saying, "all we are, is dust in the wind." It's one of my guilty movie pleasures.

  • "ZIGGY PIGGY! ZIGGY PIGGY!"

  • There are a few liberal-leaning columnists I enjoy reading, one of whom is William Raspberry. He's usually a pretty clear and logical thinker, particularly on urban and race issues. I may not always agree with him, but I must give the man credit. Unfortunately, he's starting to lose it with his three most recent columns -- two on the War on Terror and one on tax cuts.

  • Re: Tax Cuts: First and foremost, its none of his (or anyone else's) business what any individual does with the money saved from tax cuts. It's that person's money. But here's the thing that Mr. Raspberry and too many other liberals don't understand about economic stimulus -- consumer spending is like a shot of espresso -- it gets you moving for a little while, but it won't keep you going into the next day. The US economy does not need a shot of espresso to wake it up -- it needs to invest in new development, new businesses, new ideas. This will, in turn and in time, create new jobs.

    Re-reading his tax cut column again, there are so many economic fallacies and half-truths that it's almost not worth responding to. But again, just to reemphasize, the top 50% of all wage earners pay over 95% of all income taxes. The top 10% pay nearly 70% of all income taxes. Please, would someone tell me just HOW tax cuts could ever be frontloaded to "the working poor" who pay virtually no income tax? That's right, you can't.

    Oh, and don't give me any guff about Social Security and Medicare. Remember, they aren't taxes, they're "federally mandated investment plans." Thank you, FDR.

  • Re: Iraq. Why Iraq and not North Korea? We're trying to prevent Iraq from becoming North Korea. Saddam doesn't have nukes yet. Kim Jong Il may very well have them now. Were Iraq to obtain nuclear weapons, how soon would it be before he used them in some sort of nuclear blackmail? And who would call his bluff? Saddam is obsessed enough with his desire to become a pan-Arab savior that I would not be surprised at all if he were to use them against Israel, even if it meant the end of his life and regime. In fact, I wouldn't even be so sure that an Iraqi (or Iraqi-backed) nuclear attack on Tel Aviv would necessarily bring the immediate wrath of anyone but the USA, possibly igniting yet another jihad/intifada/fatwaa against the Great Satan.

    And what's this bull about constitutionality all of a sudden, Mr. Raspberry? While I'm glad that you seem to have rediscovered Article I, Section 8 (while you're there, please read it VERY carefully and explain to me just how one can justify 75% of our federal government, particularly the aforementioned SS and Medicare), you seem to have forgotten that Congress passed two resolutions which would seemingly give President Bush license to commit troops to a second Gulf War. The first, immediately after September 11, granted the president power to engage any enemy affiliated with terrorism, al Qaeda, or presumed to be planning a strike on American interests. There is ample evidence showing that Iraq has given aid, comfort, and material support to al Qaeda. The second resolution, passed in summer 2002, granted the president specific license to engage Iraq if circumstances warrant.

    Do either of these amount to a true declaration of war? Not really, but it does signal the Congress' consent to commit American military forces to action on hostile shores. Will Raspberry now question the constitutionality of every US military action since the end of World War II? His record certainly indicates otherwise.


    OK, that's enough pontificating for me for one day. Back to school I go, back to school I go ...

    # posted by Eric @ 12:59 AM
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